Ian Allan answers your fantasy football questions. In this edition. Is Duron Carter headed for NFL stardom? Rankings for the NFL playoffs. And holding drafts early for the 2015 season.
Question 1
What do you think of Duron Carter's potential in the NFL? I'm thinking of picking him up in my dynasty PPR league. I'm sure I can get him for the minimum $1 bid.
JOHN BENNETT (Chino, CA)
I suppose that makes sense. You bring him in for $1, evaluate him for 8-9 months, then dump him if there’s somebody better available in August. Maybe you get lucky and catch lightning in a bottle. Carter was at four colleges in four years. He had a decent freshman season at Ohio State (13 catches) but left because of poor grades. He’s got good size (6-5, 205) and seems to have some of his pop’s catching ability (Cris Carter, I believe, had the best hands of anyone I ever saw). Speed could be an issue. NFL teams obviously have little confidence that he’ll ever develop into a starter or he would have been drafted. Carter played pretty well for Montreal in the CFL last year, catching 80 passes for 1,073 yards and 8 TDs in 20 games. My guess is that he’ll either be a backup (a fourth or fifth receiver) or a practice squad player in 2015.
Question 2
Thanks for a great product. At the end of the season in our league, the top four teams redraft from the NFL playoff teams and play for $50, a bonus for a nice season. We keep 6 players from our own team (if we have that many) and redraft from NFL playoff teams from the losers in the league. Our $50 playoffs last only three weeks, the Super Bowl doesn't count. When you put out your next product, it (in the past) counts the Super Bowl in the rankings. How can I adjust for that?
Dave (MOJO) Smith (Walls, MS)
The playoff products are out now. An overall board came out on Monday. That ranks all of the skill guys on all 12 playoff teams, ranked for overall production in the playoffs. (Players on teams with a good chance of playing three games – like Seattle and New England – tend to be ranked a lot higher than teams that probably will be playing just one game, like Arizona, Detroit and Cincinnati.) On Wednesday we put out our preview of the four games for this weekend, with all of those players ranked for how they’ll perform this week (giving no weight to what they might do in subsequent playoff games).
Question 3
Our league just wrapped up our 18th season. With 12 teams & 20 man rosters, there have been some grumblings about a lack of waiver wire activity (mainly since there is a charge per move & it bumps the super bowl pot.) We can keep 1 player in the round they were drafted. My wheels have been turning & I had a radical idea: What would you think about having everyone having to announce their 2015 keeper after week 17, and then having our 2015 draft on Wild Card Weekend? Then you are stuck with your team all offseason (although trades would be allowed) & through Week 1, after which waivers would open. After mulling this over I am considerably intrigued; do you have any thoughts?
Scott Anderson (Lakewood, CO)
You’re drafting rookies before they’re even selected onto NFL teams? I don’t like the sound of that. I mean, it’s hard enough choosing between Amari Cooper, Melvin Gordon and DeVante Parker. The deadline for underclassmen to declare for the draft is January 15, so there will be some guys where it’s not even clear if they’re turning pro. I think it would be tough to get a majority of owners in your league on board with this proposal.